Foreign Study

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LSA+ | Santander, Spain

Prerequisites

The Department offers an LSA+ program in Santander, Spain, which is led by a faculty member of the Spanish and Portuguese Department. Students live with Spanish-speaking families for the entire term. 

Students must complete SPAN 9 or 15 with a minimum grade of B or an exemption approved by language program director through placement exams.

For more information please contact specific directors for each program or The Off Campus Program Committee.

For more information please contact specific directors for each program.

DIRECTORS**

LSA Santander Summer 2026: Txetxu Aguado

**Per 2026-2027 Academic Year Application Cycle**

 

Santander, Spain

The LSA+ program in Santander, Spain, is led by a faculty member of the Spanish and Portuguese department.  Students live with Spanish-speaking families for the entire term.  Each family hosts only one international student.  The program offers SPAN 20 (Writing and Reading: A critical and Cultural Approach), SPAN 22 (Modern and Contemporary Spanish Artistic and Cultural Production), and SPAN 32 (Introduction to Hispanic Studies III: 20th-21st Centuries).   Occasionally, the program may offer SPAN 30 or 31. 

These curricular offerings are complemented with 8 weekly field trips to explore nearby Santander sites of cultural, sociological, and anthropological interest.  Students visit world-renowned landmarks like the El Castillo and Altamira Caves (both are Unesco World Heritage Site) to study Paleolithic painting and engravings, visit the Atapuerca dig, one of the world’s most important active research sites for paleontologists; enjoy discovering Romanesque and Gothic buildings and churches; hike and star-gaze in the Picos de Europa National Park, the first mountain range sea travelers saw when reaching Europe from across the Atlantic Ocean, to study the culture and customs of its inhabitants, enjoy a Spanish dishes cooking class, as well as walk parts of the Camino de Santiago along the Santander coast-line. The ​program centers on making interconnections among the environment, culture, and society.  Students also partake on a three-day trip to Madrid and a weekend-long cultural trip to the neighboring Basque Country region.   In the Basque Country students visit the Guggenheim Museum-Bilbao, an architectural marvel, and hike the seacoast at San Juan de Gaztelugatze.  In Madrid, in addition to savoring city life, students visit world-class museums like El Prado and the Reina Sofía Museum of Contemporary Art to see paintings like Velazquez’s La meninas or Picasso’s Guernika.  

LSA+ | Buenos Aires, Argentina

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: To apply for this LSA+ program, students must complete SPAN 9 or 15; be exempt from SPAN 9 based on test scores; or receive the program director's permission.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Aires is one of the most vibrant, intellectual, and artistic capitals of the Americas. A major cosmopolitan city, Buenos Aires boasts over 50 theaters, a wealth of architectural monuments, numerous active cultural centers, and a lively art world. The program aims to expose students to Argentine literature, history, and society through classroom work as well as excursions, site visits, and personal contact with families. The Argentina program provides the student the opportunity to study Spanish language, Latin American literature and civilization. 


Classes are taught at the UTDT (Universidad Tocuato Di Tella) by local faculty as well as by the Dartmouth faculty member. A private university, the Universidad Tocuato Di Tella is a modern institution built on an American model. Its extensive facilities (library, study area, coffee shops, parks, and sports facilities) offer an excellent environment for exchange between Dartmouth students and their Argentine counterparts.

The program typically includes two major excursions (a weekend trip to Iguazú Falls National Park and another one to Mendoza City and the wine country). A week-long break also offers ideal opportunity to travel within Argentina. Excursions may vary.

LSA+ | Barcelona, Spain

Prerequisites

To apply for the LSA+, students must complete SPAN 9 or 15; be exempt from SPAN 9 based on test scores; or receive the program director's permission.

Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona is a beautiful city located on a narrow Mediterranean coastal plain of northeastern Spain, with a population of nearly 2 million. A true meeting point of Mediterranean cultures through the centuries, it has long been one of the most exciting and multicultural cities in Spain. Its incredible array of architectural styles and daring achievements from Roman walls to Gaudi, bears witness to that diversity. The old city lies close to the harbor. Its chief feature is Las Ramblas, a broad tree-lined avenue leading to the Plaza de Cataluña. Wide boulevards occupying the site of ancient walls surround the precinct. The old city contains remains of the Roman settlement, a medieval cathedral and many ancient palaces and houses. The newer neighborhoods have grown close to the coast, along a string of beautiful public beaches bordered by walkways and restaurants.

Barcelona is also the site of several universities, among them the University of Barcelona, host of our LSA. The University of Barcelona was founded by Alfonso V, King of Aragón, in 1430, and is one of the largest and most important universities in Spain. There are a number of museums and galleries, including an important collection of works by Picasso, Miro and Tapies, and one of the finest museums of Romanesque art in the world. Perhaps the most famous building in Barcelona is Antonio Gaudi's unfinished Sagrada Familia church, begun in the late 19th century and characterized by its cluster of openwork spires. However, once visitors return home, the two images of this extraordinary city that remain most vividly may be its art nouveau Modernista architecture and the brightness of its beautiful Mediterranean light.